UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
PROPHET CALLED HOME:
The Black College Sports community mourns the death of former longtime Mississippi Valley State Athletics Director and Sports Information Director Charles "Chuck" Prophet.
Prophet, 67, passed around midday Friday, June 20 in the
Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Greenwood, Miss.
"It is a tremendous loss for Mississippi Valley State and the Southwestern Athletic Confe-rence," said SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp. "His hard work and his dedication at MVSU and within the Conference were immeasurable. Our thoughts are with his family at this time and Chuck will always hold a special place in our Conference's memory."
A pioneer in the field of athletics administration, Prophet was widely known as "The Wagon Master" of the famed SWAC football press tours of the past. It was Prophet along with his boyhood friend, former MVSU head football coach Archie "Gunslinger" Cooley, that helped propel the school into the national limelight during the 1983 and 1984 football seasons that featured the dynamic tandem of quarterback Willie "Satellite" Totten and future NFL pass-catching great Jerry "World" Rice. The record-setting duo became nationally known, in no small part due to Prophet's pitchman skills, as the "Satellite Express," and set a number of still-standing NCAA records along the way. In 2005 Prophet was honored when the football field at Rice-Totten Stadium at MVSU was renamed Charles "Chuck" Prophet Field and in 2006 he was enshrined into the MVSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
"Words cannot express how dearly Chuck will be missed," said interim athletics director Donald Sims. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Anna and the rest of the family. Chuck will always remain in our hearts."
A resident of Greenwood, Prophet served as president of the Greenwood-LefLore Alumni Chapter of MVSU. He was also a former president and mentor to many younger members of the Black College Sports Information Directors Association (BCSIDA) and a former board member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Always thoughtful and caring and a great family man, Prophet touched a great number of people and his professionalism, passion and genuine concern were instrumental in getting black college sports the attention and consideration it deserves.
Services have been set for Saturday June 28th at 11 a.m. in the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex on the MVSU campus.
He is survived by wife Anna, two daughters, two sons and a grandson.
WOO WOOS TO JAMAICA:
Virginia State cheerleader Parish
Haynes and head coach Paulette
Walker-Johnson will travel to Jamaica on June 20 for a week-long cheerleading camp. The camp
will allow Haynes and Walker-Johnson to travel to
several Jamaican cities and teach children how to become
cheerleaders. The Woo Woos have a national reputation and
have been described as "the class of CIAA cheerleading squads"
for almost three decades while under the directorship
of Coach Walker-Johnson.
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